Clinging To Humanity Rewrite
by Niek
Summary: When Bella becomes a vampire, the wolves are furious. They remind the Cullens of the treaty, saying that they won't hesitate to kill Bella if she breaks it. So what'll happen when she has a human dead at her feet and the Volturi coming for a visit? :S


**(A/N:** _Hey guys! Well, here we go again. This is my overhaul of Clinging To Humanity. Like I said in the author's note (for those of you who've read the original and know what I'm talking about) I'm not going to change much. Just minor details and chapter rewrites due to icky writing quality. :P So if you have any comments, questions, rants, or raves, feel free to leave them in a review! I'm going to try and be more faithful about replying to my reviews this time. –scout's honor- _

_For those of you who are new, here's the rundown. This story takes place at the end of Eclipse and it's sort of like a Breaking Dawn story, but it's not really. The italicized part below comes straight from Eclipse and I DO NOT claim to have written that part. The italics are all __Stephenie Meyer's__ words, not mine, and I do not pretend that I own them._ **)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own, Breaking Dawn, Eclipse, Twilight, or New Moon. I find disclaimers pointless as it is common knowledge that none of us own anything on this website, but for some reason, even though it's an already established fact, we denounce our rights even though it is completely and utterly unnecessary. But I only put this incase it's some Fanfiction rule that I've failed to find.**

**Chapter One  
Pain**

"_Nothing is impossible," Edward murmured, voice velvet soft as he moved another inch closer to her. "Except what you want. You'll never touch her."_

_She shook her head, fast and jerky, fighting his diversions, and tried to duck around him, but he was in place to block her as soon as she'd thought of the plan. Her face contorted in frustration, and then she shifted lower into her crouch, a lioness again, and stalked deliberately forward._

_Victoria was no inexperienced, instinct-driven newborn. She was lethal. Even I could tell the difference between her and Riley, and I knew that Seth wouldn't have lasted so long if he'd been fighting _this_ vampire. _

_Edward shifted, too, as they closed on each other, and it was lion versus lioness._

_The dance increased in tempo._

_It was like Alice and Jasper in the meadow, a blurred spiraling of movement, only this dance was not as perfectly choreographed. Sharp crunches and crackings reverberated off the cliff face whenever someone slipped in their formation. But they were moving too fast for me to see who was making the mistakes…_

With every thunderous crack, with every snap, I cringed. I cringed not because of what those sounds meant, but because I was afraid that it was Edward who missed a step in their deadly dance. But he couldn't lose this fight, could he? He could read her thoughts, know her plan before she acted on it. So it had to be Victoria making mistakes. But all that I could make out was a blur of fiery tendrils breezing this way or that, or my angel's bronze hair blurring by. There was no way to tell for sure who it was that was losing this battle.

I bit my lip as I slowly backed up to the rock behind me, looking for support, for anything to hold me up. Watching them was disconcerting and nerve-wracking. My human eyes couldn't focus on their unnatural movements, and my mind couldn't handle the possible outcomes of this fight. My hand reached out behind me as I moved back, looking for purchase on the rocks, or anything to steady me.

_Edward, please be okay,_ I thought as another crack sounded in the air around me. I took another step backwards, afraid that my legs were about to give out from underneath me, unable to support my weight anymore. Instead of my foot landing on the even ground, it fell unevenly upon a stone, and then I was falling…

A small screech sounded from my mouth as the world disappeared from under me, and as I toppled, I saw Edward stop and look back at me. And I saw Victoria grin, with part of her chin missing.

Before I even met the ground, I heard a feral snarl erupt from somewhere and hysterical laughter follow. A searing pain shot through my head as I met the ground, a jagged rock slicing it's way through my scalp, causing me to inhale sharply and clench my eyes shut. I could already smell the blood and I knew that Edward and Victoria could too.

A second hadn't even passed before I felt cold, stone hands wrap around my waist and hoist me in the air. Instinctively, I huddled closer, welcoming the cold. Cold meant safe. Cold meant Edward. But something was wrong. Something was off. Something felt different. I didn't fit in these arms like I normally fit in Edward's. I opened my eyes and screamed when I saw fiery red hair inches from my face and eyes the color to match. Edward didn't have me. Victoria did. I screamed, and kicked, and beat on her with all of my might, but it only caused me more pain. She laughed and held me tighter.

"I have you now," she whispered in a giggle. I looked up at her face and recoiled when I saw just how much damage she's taken. Most of her face had been completely disfigured, leaving behind a true and terrifying monster.

"Edward," I screamed. I tried to turn my head, to try and find him, but I couldn't move. I could only stare at my captor's hideous face.

"I'm right here," I heard him say through gritted teeth. "I'll make sure nothing happens to you."

Victoria cackled wildly. "Don't make promises you can't keep, my dear. That's lying." Edward hissed. "Because now that I have your precious little mate, there's nothing you can do. You know what will happen if you try and attack me. I'll kill her. You may be fast, but not fast enough to stop me from ripping her heart out."

"Let her go, Victoria," he screamed, rage dripping from every word like the venom he carried within. "You will not leave here alive. I can promise you that."

"And neither will Bella." Victoria looked down at me and grinned. "Will you?" I closed my eyes to avoid her fiendish gaze. _Just let this be over. Just let this be over. Just let this be over. Just let this be over. _I couldn't hear anything above my frantic thoughts, or above my frantic heart. It seemed as if the world had gone quiet for the final showdown between good and evil, between demons and angels.

I shivered as Victoria stroked my cheek, as if I were some infant in her twisted game. "Poor, poor, Bella. So weak, and so fragile. You don't even have the strength to save yourself."

And with those last words, her granite hands circled my arm and clamped down. Edward's roar of fury matched my scream of utter pain as my mind swirled on the edge of blackness, on the edge of an abyss I doubted that I could come back from. Tears slid down my face as Victoria let go of my arm. It fell limp and lifeless at my side. Then we were moving. I knew Edward was trying to get to me, or else Victoria would have been content to stay put and break me piece by piece.

"I warned you," she hissed vehemently. And suddenly there was nothing but pain in my world. I felt nothing but the feeling of Victoria's arms squeezing me, breaking me as if I were made of fragile porcelain. A rib. My other arm. More ribs. My hand. My upper leg. I felt so much pain all over and at once that I barely noticed her teeth slicing into my neck, probably with the intent of decapitating me in front of Edward.

And then the world was moving; the air whooshing all around me as I sailed through the air, the sounds of cracks and snaps reverberating below me. I watched hazily as the ground zoomed below me, and vaguely registered when it was coming closer. Before I could even think anything, I landed hard and fast on the ground, the breath being stolen from my lungs like life being ripped from a person and the rest of my body breaking at impact. My vision blurred as I lay there completely immobile, unable to breathe or whimper.

I had no idea what just happened, but I knew Edward must have done something. I couldn't move or do anything because within moments of my landing, everything went black. I had finally tumbled into the abyss.

**(A/N:** So, what do you guys think? Better than the original chapter one? Definitely much longer. The way it all happens is definitely different, but I like this version better.**)**

**(A/N: (Again)** I suppose since I'll have new readers, you guys would like a little plot summary? Okay, here it goes: After wanting to become immortal like Edward for so long, Bella finally gets her wish. But at what price? Life isn't as easy as she expected. Not only does Edward blame himself for her almost-death, the wolves are furious. Bella is devasted when Jake turns on her, telling her that if she breaks the treaty, he won't hesitate to kill her. She becomes even more upset when she actually does break it. Now, with a human dead by Bella's hands, the Volturi have an excuse to take the Cullens out. Can the Cullens survive this two sided war between wolves and their own kind? Can Bella survive the struggles of being a newborn? Can Bella cling to what's left of her humanity as the world spiral's out of her control?  Hmm, you'll just have to read and see.**)**


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